Seascapes travel log
Seascapes Travel Log
Michael Grew
Mon 17 May 2010 22:27
Re-start of our travels with a new temporary crew of sons Paul and Darren, who kindly stepped in at the last minute to help us out. Left Southsea Marina at 00:45hrs with a forecast of winds WSW force 3-4 calm seas. Sounded brilliant but the reality was that there was little or no wind at all and we finished up using the “iron spinnaker” (the engine) all the way, arriving in La Havre at 07:30hrs. Very uneventful and disappointing for the boys. The next evening they caught the fast cat ferry back to Portsmouth.
17/05/2010 49:26:88N 01:03:22E
Left La Havre Marina at 05:30hrs on 17/05/2010 in the pitch dark, raining, with westerly wind force 6-7 blowing straight down the Seine delta. We crossed the delta on a wing and a prayer since none of the charted buoys were lit ! The sea was in a complete turmoil and waves were continually breaking over the side deck. Thank goodness we left the canopy up. We found the very narrow channel by following a fishing boat. Then had to fighting the outgoing tide for 2 hours or so but as the tide turned the weather improved and our speed increased from 2.5knots to 10knots enabling us to reach Rouen 80 miles upstream by 17:10hrs in bright sunshine. Moored up in the Basin St Gervais and commenced making preparations to take down the masts 10:00hrs tomorrow. Paris here we come!